Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. James 1:12-13

Friday, December 30, 2016

Hi friends! I forgot to share this little finish with you. It is a freebie from our friend Palkó. I stitched this one over one on 25ct white evenweave using the sparkly, pink Madeira floss I received from June. ♥

Here are my December pieces on display. This picture is awful. Sorry. It was snowy and overcast and I had lights on, but the picture still is blurry. I think you kind of get the idea.

I finished reading book number two in the Maisie Dobbs series a while ago. I truly enjoyed it very much. Birds of a Feather (The Second Maisie Dobbs Mystery)
Jacqueline Winspear’s marvelous debut, Maisie Dobbs, won her fans
from around the world and raised her intuitive, intelligent, and
resourceful heroine to the ranks of literature’s favorite sleuths. Birds of a Feather,
its follow-up, finds psychologist and private investigator Maisie Dobbs
on another dangerously intriguing adventure in London “between the
wars.” It is the spring of 1930, and Maisie has been hired to find a
runaway heiress. But what seems a simple case at the outset soon becomes
increasingly complicated when three of the heiress’s old friends are
found dead. Is there a connection between the woman’s mysterious
disappearance and the murders? Who would want to kill three seemingly
respectable young women? As Maisie investigates, she discovers that the
answers lie in the unforgettable agony of the Great War.

I have almost completed the Christmas ornament for my young Ukrainian friend. It is filled with specialty stitches. I did not realize how long this would take me! Oh well. It is going to be a very nice gift. Then on to Brian's Christmas ornament.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend my friends! I would like to wish you a Blessed, Happy New Year! Thank you for stopping by.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Hi friends! I would like to share with you the Christmas ornament I made for our friend June.

This is a free chart you can find HERE. I stitched this two over two with DMC on pale blue(hard to see with my picture) 28ct linen. I searched my fabric stash and found the perfect fabric to back this little flat ornament. I cut the square shape and folded it just so, with mitered corners, around to the front of another cardboard square. I finished it with a piece of baker's twine as the hanger. This is how the back looks.

Madeleine did paint Murphy's portrait also. All three poodles are done. :) They are each 2"x2".

Did you notice how she even gave poor 'ol Murphy his blue eyes? Well, he does have bluish eyes. He does not have cataracts, just old dog eyes.

I am stitching up a Christmas ornament for a church friend. Yes, you read that right. Our Orthodox Christmas is January 7th. I have time. :)

Thank you for your encouragement and support my friends. I always look forward to comments left by you. Thank you. ♥ Have a wonderful week!

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Hi friends! Today is my day to take part in the 2016 Online Advent Calendar. Click HERE to go to Jo's blog to view the Advent Calendar that is updated daily. You can view the entire 24 days with a link to each post.

Here is my finish to share with you. It is the angel ornament I have created for my mom this year. I will be gifting it to her on Christmas morning.

This pattern is a freebie you can find HERE My mom's favorite color is blue. That is how I chose my floss colors. DMC 799 & 800 I stitched this one over one on 28ct white Meran linen. The ornament is backed with a pale blue crepe and trimmed with white satin ribbon.

For this blog post Jo has also asked if we have a special decoration that we must have on display every year. We have several things that are special to our family that always come out at Christmas, but number one is the Nativity. Brian and I bought the stable and the Holy Family, and just a few other figures for our first Christmas. It was our Christmas gift to each other, that first year as husband and wife. The next year at Christmas we bought just a few more. My three brothers bought the rest you see over the next couple years. I stopped them after the bag piper!!! ;) No dislike for bagpipers, but I was worried how outlandish this might get!!

We also have an outdoor Nativity. I spied a small tabletop version of this in a publication decades ago. I knew I would like a large version cut out of wood for the front of our home. My FIL and I worked on creating this together. My husband touches up the black paint occasionally, but here it is many years later.

Thank you for stopping by today. Have a Merry, Blessed Christmas everyone!

Monday, December 19, 2016

I want to share with you my lovely Christmas gifts I received from our friend June.

Does she know me or what? A beautiful, pink ornament! I l♥ve it June! AND she also included this gorgeous pink, sparkly floss. Aren't the deer on the card precious? I have that little card on display in the cubby shelf. :)

Madeleine asked me what I want for Christmas. I told her she does not have to get me a thing. Could she just please finish painting Miss Mabel's portrait? And so she did. Hooray! Isn't it wonderful? I love it!

Now that I have these two rascals side by side in the cubby shelf, you know what I need don't you? Yes, a portrait of Murphy. I am hoping Madeleine gets inspired during her long Winter Break to paint his portrait also. ;)

All five of us, and my BIL, went to see Rogue One this weekend! WOW! It was awesome. I am NOT going to give anything away. I will say this Star Wars is very, very different from any other one. Go see it!

I am still stitching up my mom's angel ornament. I will share that with you next time. :)

Have a wonderful week my friends! I am going to bake some Christmas cookies! I am thinking Wookie Cookies. ;) Remember the gingerbread Wookie Cookies I made last year? HERE
If I had more time and less HEADACHE I would figure out how to make K-2S0 cookies. He is my new favorite character. And Jyn! She is super!

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Hi friends! Hi friends! Hi friends! I am all jazzed up! Why? Because my headache went away? NO! Because I had a big Coca Cola? No! Because I have had a desire for a poodle wreath to decorate our front door. Yep! Don't you all? tee hee!

I was thinking and thinking and thinking and BINGO! The idea came! And once it came, there was NO going back! And it cost me not a thing!! That is right. I used supplies I had on hand. So here it is, my poodle wreath. Ta da!I know right?! Woo hoo! I immediately pictured a white pine wreath with black felt poodles with red scarves and a big red bow!! Yes!

I have this collection of poodle pictures and templates. I mean, don't we all? ;) I went through my stash and knew this guy was the one for the wreath. I had the white felt on hand. I embroidered little noses and eyes with DMC 310. Each poodle has a front and back. There is a tiny bit of stuffing in each poodle. I glued the edges together and finished the poodle off with a little red satin ribbon bow. ♥

This pine wreath is about 18 years old! The big plaid bow is even recycled. I don't throw out usable craft items. ;) I had the gold ribbon to hang the wreath from the door also.

The last step was to hot glue my two poodles in place. All done. I love that it cost me not a thing. And I love that it is one of a kind. ♥

That is it for today friends. Now I really should write out those Christmas cards!!

I spotted this on ebay.
Even if we did have the money for fun and wild things right now, Brian said, "Um, no." Aww, c'mon. Wouldn't the front yard filled with, oh about 2 dozen of these girls be TOTALLY AWESOME?!? Why is Brian saying I might have a poodle problem? ;)

Friday, December 9, 2016

Hi friends! Brian got me a small gift from Hobby Lobby the other day to cheer me up. Boy did this ever make me smile, despite the horrid headache.

Who does not love a Miss Mabel ornament with bling?!

I stopped the project I was working on. It is not cross stitch, but sewing. I plan to do it some other time, just not now. It is not going to get done for this Christmas with the other things that need to get done. With my head hurting so very much 24/7, I can only push myself so much. Definitely not the way I used to be able to zip around and get many things done.

So..... I started my mom's Christmas angel ornament. Hardly any progress there to show you.

I finished listening to another audio book. I borrowed this book from our library's audiobook collection available through OverDrive. Joni: An Unforgettable Story is a book I have wanted to read for years. I decided to finally listen to it! Glad I did. I learned valuable life lessons from it.

The award-winning story of a young woman who triumphed over devastating
odds to touch countless lives the world over with the healing message of
Christ. Includes photos and illustrations by Joni.

In a split
second on a hot July afternoon, a diving accident transformed the life
of Joni Eareckson Tada forever. She went from being an active young
woman to facing every day in a wheelchair. In this unforgettable
autobiography, Joni reveals each step of her struggle to accept her
disability and discover the meaning of her life. The hard-earned truths
she discovers and the special ways God reveals his love are testimonies
to faith’s triumph over hardship and suffering.

The new 25th
Anniversary edition of this award-winning story--which has more than
3,000,000 copies in print in over 40 languages--will introduce a new
generation of readers to the incredible greatness of God’s power and
mercy at work in those who fully give their hearts and lives to him.

Joni
has written an afterword in which she describes the events that have
occurred in her life since the book’s publication in 1976, including her
marriage to Ken Tada and the expansion of her worldwide ministry to
families affected by disability.

Joni is now available for the first time in an unabridged audio version read by the author.

I hope you have a lovely weekend my friends. I hope you are not getting frazzled.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Hi friends! I was chosen by our friend Michelle to receive a gift for being a friend and a follower of her blog. Michelle is now closing her blog. These are the gifts Michelle made me. Something stitched, knitted and crocheted.

Thank you Michelle. I love what you created. Perfect for ME! ♥

Our friend Kaye told me last week that she would love to see all 12 of my Joyful World finishes together in one post. I told her that is a great idea! So here we go!!
Whew! And now... our friend Irmeli has asked me to name my three favorites! I think they are: May, November and December. ;)

That is all for today friends. I have some secret finishing to do. Then off to the post office. :) Then on to another three secret projects!

We got our first snow of the season. Not all that much, just a few inches, but it is so pretty.

Yes, I still have the nasty headache. No let up at all. November was nice with the occasional day of no headache. Cannot figure out why. I sure liked it though. I am trying not to lose hope and confidence in doctors, but.... it sure does seem that no one knows how to help me. :(

Friday, December 2, 2016

Hi friends! I finally finished Jacob's ornament. It was a challenge. It should not have been, but this WEEK was a challenge for me. ugh. I had a nasty headache for 5 days, all because I drank my chai tea latte when it was very warm, instead of just barely warm.(Drinking hot drinks and the sun cause really bad headaches) I forgot. And I paid for it dearly. The Imitrex did not work, nothing did but time it seems. Anyways, lets look at Jacob's ornament, shall we?

This is the pattern that challenged me. Why? Because I had an excruciating headache and it is hard to focus and create at the same time. :( So... this pattern can be found in the 2011 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue. It is just part of the pattern. The pattern is called Christmas Pine Pocket by Moss Creek Designs. My version varies a bit from the one in the magazine. I shortened only the pine needles at the very end of the branches. I worked the long stitch one over one on these, instead of two over two the way the rest of the pine needles are done.

You may recall the stitching I did for the other side.

Of all the three ornament frames that our friend Nienke gifted me with, I will say that this little tree was the most challenging to get the linen pieces to lie flat and nice within! This is the best I can do. I tried for a very, very long time. It is very hard to get BOTH sides perfect. I usually aim for perfection. This time I am accepting a bit less than perfection.

I finished reading Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House by Stephanie Barron. I really liked this book. I have liked every book in this Jane series thus far. :) They keep you guessing!

In her sixth engrossing outing, Jane Austen employs her delicious wit
and family ties to the Royal Navy in a case of murder on the high seas.
Somewhere in the picturesque British port of Southampton, among a crew
of colorful, eccentric, and fiercely individual souls, a killer has come
ashore. And only Jane can fathom the depths of his ruthless mind....

Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House“I will assert that sailors are endowed with greater worth than any set of men in England.”

So
muses Jane Austen as she stands in the buffeting wind of Southampton’s
quay beside her brother Frank on a raw February morning. Frank, a post
captain in the Royal Navy, is without a ship to command, and his best
prospect is the Stella Maris, a fast frigate captained by his old friend Tom Seagrave.

“Lucky”
Tom — so dubbed for his habit of besting enemy ships — is presently in
disgrace, charged with violating the Articles of War. Tom’s first
lieutenant, Eustace Chessyre, has accused Seagrave of murder in the
death of a French captain after the surrender of his ship.

Though
Lucky Tom denies the charge, his dagger was found in the dead man’s
chest. Now Seagrave faces court-martial and execution for a crime he
swears he did not commit.

Frank, deeply grieved, is certain his
friend will hang. But Jane reasons that either Seagrave or Chessyre is
lying — and that she and Frank have a duty to discover the truth.

The
search for the captain’s honor carries them into the troubled heart of
Seagrave’s family, through some of the seaport’s worst sinkholes, and at
long last to Wool House, the barred brick structure that serves as gaol
for French prisoners of war.

Risking contagion or worse, Jane
agrees to nurse the murdered French captain’s imprisoned crew — and
elicits a debonair surgeon’s account of the Stella Maris’s battle that appears to clear Tom Seagrave of all guilt.

When
Eustace Chessyre is found murdered, the entire affair takes on the
appearance of an insidious plot against Seagrave, who is charged with
the crime. Could any of his naval colleagues wish him dead? In an era
of turbulent intrigue and contested amour, could it be a case of cherchez la femme ... or a veiled political foe at work? And what of the sealed orders under which Seagrave embarked that fateful night in the Stella Maris? Death knocks again at Jane’s own door before the final knots in the killer’s net are completely untangled.

Always surprising, Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House
is an intelligent and intriguing mystery that introduces Jane and her
readers to “the naval set” — and charts a true course through the
amateur sleuth’s most troubled waters yet.

I am working on a bit of secret Christmas stitching right now. I will share with you gifts I received next time.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Hi friends! It is going to be mild here today. Sunny and in the 50's! Amazing!

I have a finish I want to share with you. I completed the December Joyful World last night. The series is complete!

I stitched this one over one with DMC on 25ct Moss lugana. I wasn't sure about my fabric choice, but in the end I like it! :) I did make a few floss changes: 3021 to 420; 320 to 3364; 833 to 420.

ooOoo! I am excited to share with you a new-to-me book series I came across. I read the first book in the series, and I am hooked! Have you ever read a book and just not wanted it to end? I actually did not read the first book, I listened to it on CD, on loan from our library. What book am I talking about? Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid in an aristocratic London household
when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton,
soon became her patron, taking the remarkably bright youngster under her
wing. Lady Rowan's friend, Maurice Blanche, often retained as an
investigator by the European elite, recognized Maisie’s intuitive gifts
and helped her earn admission to the prestigious Girton College in
Cambridge, where Maisie planned to complete her education.

The
outbreak of war changed everything. Maisie trained as a nurse, then left
for France to serve at the Front, where she found—and lost—an important
part of herself. Ten years after the Armistice, in the spring of 1929,
Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator, one who has
learned that coincidences are meaningful, and truth elusive. Her very
first case involves suspected infidelity but reveals something very
different.

In the aftermath of the Great War, a former officer
has founded a working farm known as The Retreat, that acts as a
convalescent refuge for ex-soldiers too shattered to resume normal life.
When Fate brings Maisie a second case involving The Retreat, she must
finally confront the ghost that has haunted her for over a decade.

I am not-very-patiently waiting for the audio copy of book #2 in this series. So I think I may just go over to our library and get the actual book. I need to finish reading my Jane Austen book first!!

I am now off to work on Jacob's second ornament. I will share that finish with you next time.

The results from the camera pill are all normal. The doctor said I look good in there. I am to continue taking iron three times daily and see a hematologist. My hemoglobin has gone up. Hooray! I am no longer severely anemic. It is 10.9 now. A woman's hemoglobin should be 12. So I am getting there.

I hope you have a fantastic week my friends! Thank you for stopping by today.

Stitcher's Prayer

God Grant that I may see to stitch until my dying day.When the last thread is cut and scissors tucked away.May the work that I have done, live on.That other folk may see,The pleasure I have known LORD,From the gift you gave me!

Epic Pink Tumbler Quilt

ZERO different, pink, 5x5 fabrics still needed!!! YES! I HAVE ALL 817 OF THEM NOW!!